by Liz Moriyama

On January 17, 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the law requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or be barred from the United States.[1] Three days later, on his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order temporarily pausing the ban.[2] This decision is the culmination of a years’ long battle over the fate of one of the most prominent and profitable social media platforms of all time.[3] Indeed, as of this year, TikTok possessed over 170 million American users.[4] Many of these users had taken to the platform and the streets to protest the ban.[5] TikTok, for its part, had announced that it would “go dark” on January 19th, unless the Biden administration blocked the ban.[6] After the pause, TikTok thanked President Trump “for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”[7]

During oral arguments, the Supreme Court heard several arguments from the Office of the Solicitor General and the lawyers representing TikTok. American officials have long criticized TikTok as a threat to national security.[8] Specifically, many have grown increasingly concerned over TikTok’s alleged ability to track users’ location history, communication, and other personal information.[9] U.S. Representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) likened TikTok to a “spy balloon in Americans’ phones.”[10] Additionally, many TikTok critics condemn the platform’s longstanding promulgation of false information and destructive conspiracy theories.[11]

In contrast, TikTok advocates make three major arguments. First, the TikTok ban constitutes an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of speech.[12] Second, TikTok does not pose a national security risk, or at least, no risk greater than what is posed by similarly situated American-owned social media platforms.[13] Finally, TikTok actually has a positive economic, social, and political impact on the United States.[14]

The third argument, regarding the platform’s economic effect, gained major traction shortly before the shutdown.[15] Indeed, according to TikTok, small businesses would have lost “over one billion dollars in revenue in a single month” had the ban remained in place.[16] Chloe Sexton, a small business owner and one of several plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last year, explained her challenge, stating:

When I started sharing my life and what I was struggling with, they really just built a community around me. It’s brought me to the most incredible places. I never thought I’d sit on the Kelly Clarkson Show. TikTok did that.[17]

Ms. Sexton’s lawsuit primarily argued that a TikTok ban infringed upon users’ First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.[18] Although the TikTok ban was novel, the Supreme Court was unconvinced that it was unconstitutional.[19]  In their unsigned unanimous opinion, the Court wrote:

There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary. We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.[20]

So where does all of this leave us? For now, TikTok will remain accessible to American users for the next 75 days.[21] In the meantime, TikTok, the Trump Administration, and Capitol Hill will likely be hard at work negotiating a suitable arrangement that allows the platform to operate in the United States. As of writing, it is unclear how the underlying law and recent Supreme Court decision could affect TikTok’s long-term legal status; however, for millions of Americans, the temporary pause on the TikTok ban is cause for celebration.

[1] Jonathan Vanian, Supreme Court Uphold TikTok ban, But Trump Might Offer Lifeline, CNBC (Jan. 17, 2025, 10:04 AM), https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/17/supreme-court-rules-to-uphold-tiktok-ban.html.

[2] Bobby Allyn, Trump Signs Executive Order to Pause TikTok Ban, Provide Immunity to Tech Firms, NPR (Jan. 20, 2025, 8:22 PM), https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/nx-s1-5268701/trump-executive-order-tiktok-ban.

[3] See Sareen Habeshian, TikTok Ban Timeline: Here’s Where Things Stand, Axios (Jan. 13, 2025), https://www.axios.com/2025/01/13/tiktok-ban-timeline.

[4] See Vanian, supra note 1.

[5] See Chole Veltman & Chloee Weiner, With TikTok’s Future Uncertain, Creators Ponder Life Without the App, NPR (Jan. 18, 2025, 3:50 PM), https://www.npr.org/2025/01/18/nx-s1-5261019/tiktok-creators-future-ban-rednote-lemon8; Drew Harwell, A Battered TikTok Enters an Age of Chaos as a Ban Awaits, Wash. Post (Jan. 18, 2025), https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/01/18/tiktok-ban-trump-extension-china/ (describing one viral TikTok decrying, “[f]ascist countries ban apps…[i]f TikTok goes dark, the government deliberately and knowingly took away your free speech”). But see Kevin Roose, What if No One Misses TikTok?, N.Y. Times (Jan. 18, 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/18/technology/what-if-no-one-misses-tiktok.html.

[6] See Mark Sherman, TikTok Says It Will ‘Go Dark’ Unless It Gets Clarity from Biden Following Supreme Court Ruling, AP News (Jan. 18, 2025, 4:48 PM), https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-tiktok-china-security-speech-166f7c794ee587d3385190f893e52777.

[7] Julia Reinstein & Max Zahn, TikTok Thanks Trump After It Begins Restoring Service to US Users, ABC News (Jan. 19, 2025, 12:48 PM), https://abcnews.go.com/Business/tiktok-restoring-service/story?id=117857636.

[8] See Caitlin Yilek, Why Is TikTok Banned? What’s Behind the Law That Shuttered the App, CBS News (Jan. 18, 2025, 12:06 AM), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-is-tiktok-being-banned-supreme-court-congress/.

[9] See id.

[10] Id.

[11] See Tiffany Hsu, Worries Grow That TikTok Is New Home for Manipulated Video and Photos, N.Y. Times (Nov. 4, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/technology/tiktok-deepfakes-disinformation.html; Rebecca Jennings, Has TikTok Made Us Better? Or Much, Much Worse?, Vox (Jan. 17, 2025, 10:36 AM), https://www.vox.com/culture/23660355/tiktok-ban-cultural-impact.

[12] Jenna Leventoff & Patrick Toomey, ACLU Slams Supreme Court TikTok Ruling, ACLU (Jan. 17, 2025, 10:00 AM), https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-slams-supreme-court-tiktok-ruling; Gorski &Toomey, infra note 13.

[13] See Ashley Gorski & Patrick Toomey, Banning TikTok Is Unconstitutional. The Supreme Court Must Step In., ACLU (Jan. 15, 2025), https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/banning-tiktok-is-unconstitutional-the-supreme-court-must-step-in.

[14] See Jennings, supra note 11.

[15] See, e.g., Mae Anderson, Small Businesses Brace Themselves for Potentially Disruptive TikTok Ban, AP News (Dec. 31, 2024, 2:20 PM), https://apnews.com/article/small-business-tiktok-ban-bytedance-f5fd7ababa3d7c1155e4f15b21e2db5b; Alejandra Marquez Janse & John Ketchum, As TikTok Ban Looms, Small Business Owners Wait with Uncertainty, NPR (Jan. 17, 2025, 5:36 PM), https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5265346/as-tiktok-ban-looms-small-business-owners-wait-with-uncertainty.

[16] See Anderson, supra note 15.

[17] Leah Williams, Memphis Plaintiff in TikTok Lawsuit Concerned about Small Businesses after Ban Takes Effect; Marketing Expert Offering Up Tips for Businesses, ABC News (Jan. 17, 2025, 12:28 PM), https://www.localmemphis.com/article/news/local/chloe-sexton-giant-cookies-tiktok-ban-plaintiff-lawsuit-business-constant-contact/522-773b362d-1919-4e65-9d1b-276be86f4e95.

[18] Haleluya Hadero, TikTok Content Creators Sue the US Government Over Law that Could Ban the Popular Platform, ABC News (May 14, 2024, 7:30 PM), https://www.localmemphis.com/article/news/national/tiktok-content-creators-sue-us-government-over-law-could-ban-social-media-app/522-b7d23447-0d9d-49e3-98d0-b2b60c7233fe.

[19] Bobby Allyn, TikTok is Offline in the U.S. after Supreme Court Upholds Ban, NPR (Jan. 19, 2025, 11:24 AM), https://www.npr.org/2025/01/18/nx-s1-5266146/tiktok-offline-supreme-court-ban (noting that this was the first time the United States banned such a prominent social media platform); see also Bobby Allyn, Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban, Threatening App’s Existence in the U.S., NPR (Jan. 17, 2025, 9:46 PM), https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5258396/supreme-court-upholds-tiktok-ban.

[20] See Allyn, supra note 19.

[21] See Allyn, supra note 2.

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